Balancing means for centrifugal clothes extractor



L. M. KAHN 2,475,029

BALANCING "m5 FOR CENTRIFUGAL CLOTHES TRACTOR I July 5, 1949.

Filed June 20, 1945' M, w r M m x I Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED BALANCING MEANS FOR CENTRIFUGAL CLOTHES EXTRAQTOR Leo M. Kahn, Allen Park. N. Y.

Application June 20, 1945, Serial No. 600,491

My invention relates to cleaning apparatus and more particularly to a washing machine designed to extract water from washed articles through centrifugal action.

Although high speed extraction of this nature is highly desired in the art, practical limitations upon the degree of speed utilized is imposed by structural or mechanical considerations. Inasmuch as the water logged articles form a shapeless, unsymmetrical mass, the distribution of its weight in a cylinder is normally haphazard and unbalanced. The problem of rotating at high speed an unbalanced mass-is evident and considerable effort has been directed to its solution.

Bearing the foregoing in mind, an object of this invention is to provide a simple and efficient means for creating a, balanced environment for the articles to be treated so as to permit high speed rotation thereof without the undesirable consequences of excessive vibration usually accompanying such rotation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device wherein departures from balance of the wet articles are automatically compensated for.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mass or weight balancing device which shall not interfere with conventional bearing arrangements employed in centrifugal drying machines and shall not require tilting or similar actions of the washing cylinder in order to secure balance thereof.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description, it being understood that the above general statements of the objects of my invention are intended to explain and not to limit it in any manner.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross section through the improved machine.

Fig. 2 is a reduced section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modified embodiment.

In the embodiment shown, the apparatus includes the stationary tub ill mounted on a support ll. Rotatably mounted in the tub in is the basket or receptacle l2 in which is disposed the mass of washed articles l3. The receptacle I2 is provided with the usual perforations ll through which the water is ejected by centrifugal force when the receptacle is rotated at a high speed for Water extracting purposes.

The receptacle I2 is provided with an operating shaft 15 which has a pulley l6 fixed thereto and 6 Claims. (Cl. 210-63) 2 which is reduced at its outer end where it is received in the bearing member l1.

Rotation of the receptacle I2 is accomplished by the motor l8, pulley I 9, and belt 20 which transmits the driving power to the pulley l8.

Secured to the tub I0 is the curved arm 2| which slidably maintains the shaft 22 of the balancing device to be hereinafter described.

The balancing means'comprises said shaft 22 at the end of which is rotatably secured the flexible bag 23. The mounting of the bag 23, being independent of the tub l2, permits it to assume various positions relative thereto. The bag 23 is formed of a waterproof cloth such as canvas although it may well be formed of rubberized cloth, rubber, or similar material. Its upper end is bounded or enclosed by a metal plate 24 to which the bag may be riveted or otherwise suitably secured. The lower end of the bag has secured thereto the metal plate 25, the projection 26 of which is'designated to be. received in a complementary depression or socket formed in the shaft l5 of the receptacle. The projection 26 serves to center the central position of the bag 23 and to maintain it against undue displacement while permitting uniform flexibility of the outer edges thereof as will hereinafter appear. The bag 23 contains a supply of water 23a which may occupy about one-half the volume of the bag although the amount may vary considerably as is evident.

Rotating connection between the bag 23 and the shaft 22 is effected by means of the bearing housing 21 in which an anti-friction bearing 28 terminates the shaft 22. A nut 29 may serve to enclose the bearing 28.

In order to maintain the bag 23 in the raised.

or inoperative position, a spring biased detent 29a in the shaft 22 abuts the upper end of the arm 2| as illustrated inthe dotted lines of Fig. 1.

My invention is practiced in the following manner:

The mass of clothes I3 is initially water logged and disposed more or less haphazardly in the tub l2 where the articles may have been washed in situ by means of a conventional washing action.

Electric motor I8 may be either a two speed or variable speed machine. In the latter case, a

- suitable rheostat 18a may control its speed.

of the present invention to rotate the receptacle at a speed where the centrifugal force is causing the clothes to assume the shape of an annulus. This speed may be that necessary to effect centrifugal extraction of the water or it may be any speed sumcient to impart a more or less annular shape to the washed clothes through centrifugal force. or course, if it is feasible to manually arrange the articles 23, the necessity for rotation for this purpose will be avoided.

At this point, the detent 29 is depressed whereupon the bag 23 will descend from the broken line to the full line position of Fig. 1 where it rests on the fioor of the tub l2 and assumes a disk-like shape having a periphery substantially concentric and parallel to the axis of the tub l2. The projection 26 will thereupon lodge in the depression formed in the shaft 22 so as to center the bag 23 and maintain it against displacement. The water 2311, by gravitational action, will cause the periphery of the flexible bag 23, which is rendered plastic by its free flowing contents to assume a shape complementary to the adjacent area of the approximate annulus formed by the rotating clothes. It may thus be considered that the water 2341 will fillup the irregularities in the inner wall of the annulus or will be applied to areas of lesser concentration of the clothes relative to the remainder of the annulus so that the amount of the water 23a disposed at any radius line of the annulus will be inversely proportional to the amount of the clothes along that line. It is preferable to rotate the tub at a speed less than final extraction speed while applying the bag 23 to the tub, but it is of course unnecessary to do so.

I have determined that the weight of water logged clothes such as are usually washed by conventional washing machines is approximately the same as an equal volume of water, the actual difference being so little as to be immaterial for the instant purpose. Accordingly, the expedient of correcting the departure of the washed mass from a true annulus by depositing, in effect, an amount of water to compensate for this departure, creates an annulus of pronounced uniformity as regards cross-sectional shape and distributed weight. 01' course, the water 23a never actually reaches or penetrates the clothes since it is maintained in the flexible bag 23. I also realize that the specific gravity of the water logged articles varies considerably as thewater is extracted but as an average, the specific gravity of the water 23a is'approximately equal thereto. At any rate, the bag 23 puts the weight where it is needed to improve the balance of the tub.

In the modified embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the bag 23 may take the form of a series of hollow, concentric, flexible projections or fingers 30 which are automatically adjustable to a length inversely proportional to the width of the annularly shaped mass of articles at the sites of the contacting fingers so that the irregularities of the annularly shaped mass are substantially filled in. The hollow fingers 30 will similarly have free flowing contents such as water to compensate for the weight differences ofthese irregular sites. It will be apparent that the flexible fingers 30 are automatically adjustable by virtue of the water which extends them until the mass is reached thereby. Thus, the fingers are extended considerably where the mass is thin so that more water is added thereto at the site of such thinness. This result is attainable because the material of which the fingers are made is flexible so as to respond to the water enclosed thereby while limited in such response by the I inner wall or the mass.

It will be observed in Figs. 2 and 3 that the water 23a need not fill the capacity of the bag 23 when it is in operative position but may serve to fill the irregularities and extend inwardl but not necessarily to the center of the bag. This position will, 01' course, be assumed when the tub is rotating so that the water 23a is outwardly disposed through centrifugal force. However, since the speed is such that the water 23a assumes a peripheral shape complementary to the shape of the inner ring of the annularly disposed articles I 3, even if the inner ring of the water 23a does not assume the uniform concentric shape illustrated, it is effective in transferring any irregularities from the outer zone of the tub to the inner zone thereof. It is obvious that the inner zone of the tub is Subjected to far less centrifugal force than is the outer zone so that whatever shape the inner ring of water 23a assumes, the problem of unbalance is alleviated.

I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention but it is obvious that numerous changes and omissions may be made without departing from its spirit. For example, while I have illustrated my invention as being applied to a vertical axis cleaning apparatus, it will be apparent that the benefits thereof are applicable to horizontal axis machines. In these machines, such as shown in my co-pending application Ser. No.

597,897 the centrifugal force generated by rotation of the tub forms the washed mass into an annulus, and the bag 23 may be laterally driven into the openin of the annulus instead of downwardly applied as shown in Fig. 1. Rotation of the plate 24. The bag 23 may, on the contrary,

be refilled during each use thereof as desired.

While I have described the preferred use of a free flowing medium of the approximate specific gravity of the clothes, it is evident that any degree of compensating weight where the weight is needed will improve the balance and the operation of the apparatus.

I claim:

1. In a centrifugal drying apparatus, a rotatable perforated tub for housing a mass of water logged articles, means to rotate said tub so as to form an annulus of said articles by centrifugal action, a hollow flexible member centrally disposed relative to said articles and adapted to contain free flowing contents, means to position said flexible member so that it may abut an inner ring of said articles when said articles are annularly disposed in said tub, said flexible member including a series of closely spaced radial, hollow fingers at the periphery thereof and communieating with the body of said flexible member, said fingers being automatically adjustable by the flow therethrough of said free flowing contents to assume a. length inversely proportioned to the width of said annular mass at the points of contact of the fingers whereby said fingers and said free flowing contents therein may equalize circumferential weight variations due to irregularities ofthe annular mass of articles.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and including a support for said flexible member disposed below said articles whereby the bottom of said flexible member may be supported while its sides are permitted to expand.

3. In a centrifugal drying apparatus, a rotatable perforated tub housing a mass of discrete water logged articles, means to rotate said tub so as to form an annulus of said articles through centrifugal action, a flexible bag centrally disposed relative to said articles, means to slide said bag from a. supported position above said articles to a position where it rests and is substantially wholly supported by and on the floor of said tub below said articles and so as to abut an inner ring of said articles when said articles have been formed into an annulus, means on said bag to maintain the central point thereof fixed against andon the central point of the floor of said tub so as to permit uniform flexibility of the outer edges of said bag where it abuts said inner ring of said articles, said bag being operative to contain free flowing contents and being suficiently plastic to assume a peripheral shape complementary to the shape of said inner ring of said articles so as to fill the surface irregularities thereof and add weight thereto.

4. In a centrifugal drying apparatus, a rotatable perforated tub for housing a mass of discrete water-logged articles, means to rotate said tub so as to urge said articles radially outwardly in response to centrifugal force generated by said rotation and to form an approximate annulus of said articles having its inner wall radially disposed relative to the axis of said tub, and a hollow, flexible bag adapted to fill said annulus after the formation thereof so as to abut said inner wall, means to rest and support the bottom of said bag flatly against the floor ofvthe tub so as to permit the sides thereof to expand radially against said inner wall whereby the periphery of said bag when thus supported within said annulus becomes complementary in shape to said inner wall so as to fill irregularities therein, said flexible bag being adapted to have enclosed therein free flowing contents effective in assuming the shape of said periphery of said flexible bag whereby the weight of said contents are added to said annulus of said irregularities thereof, means to maintain said'fiexible bag normally externally of said tub, and means to shift said bag into said tub and against the floor thereof so as to fill said annulus, said bag resting freely on said floor when shifted into said tub so as to be substantially wholly supported by said floor.

5. In a centrifugal drying apparatus, a rotatable perforated tub for housing a mass of discrete water logged articles, means to rotate said tub so as to form an annulus of said articles through centrifugal action, a flexible bag centrally disposed relative to said articles, means to slide said bag from a supported position above said articles to a position where it is substantially wholly supported on the floor of said tub below said articles and so as to abut an inner ring of said articles when said articles have been formed into an annulus. said bag being adapted to contain free flowing contents therein so as to be sufficiently plastic to assume a peripheral shape complementary to the shape of the inner ring of said formed annulus so as to fill the surface irregularities thereof and add weight thereto.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 and wherein said means to maintain said flexible bag externally of said tub comprises an arm mounted over said tub and a shaft connected to said bag, said shaft being engageable by said arm so as to maintain said bag suspended over the tub, said shaft being releasable from said arm so as to drop said bag to the floor of said tub.

LEO M.

REFERENCES ER The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA Number Name Date,

Re. 7,455 Fesca Jan. 2, 1877 1,949,278 Johnson Feb. 27, 1934 2,313,644 Hvid Mar. 9, 1943 

